Steve Harmison has been left out of England's squad to tour South Africa. Photograph: Andres Leighton/AP

So long then Steve. Or so tomorrow's headlines will suggest. England have finally given up on Steve Harmison, the most frustratingly mercurial of players. Over the last three years the idea of Harmison was always so much better than the reality. At his worst he seemed to resemble all three of Dorothy's companions from the Wizard of Oz, a bowler without a brain or a heart, a big ol' cowardly lion of a cricketer.

At his best though, there was no one to touch him. On song he was the most aggressive, menacing, and difficult fast bowler to bat against of his era. But those moments were too far and few between. "If they want me to go to South Africa, I'll gladly go," he said recently, "if they don't want me to go then I'll retire."

The answer was as emphatic as the naturally diplomatic Geoff Miller was ever going to allow it to be. "His performances on his last two or three tours have not mirrored what he was capable of doing. He had said he didn't want to tour Australia in 2010-11, and we have to look at the future too. We will consider him, continue to consider him until that time [of his retirement] but unfortunately over the last four years he just hasn't performed like he was capable of performing."

Miller was perhaps a touch harsh here, Harmison had said that "he was not sure he could see himself making the next Ashes tour" implying that he thought his body may not hold up that long, rather than that he wanted to explicitly rule himself out of contention.

Miller would not go so far as to say that Harmison had talked himself out of the team when he said that he was not interested in "being a bit part player for England" but he did confirm that Harmison's lacklustre words had not helped his own cause, stressing that "he has to fight for his place in the side like everyone else."

Miller said the selection panel had spent "a long five hours" deliberating. It would be interesting to know how much of that time was spent weighing up Harmison's case. Judging from the squads there was no shortage of issues to chew over. The omission of Owais Shah from the one-day squad is a surprise given his form in the Champions Trophy, where his 44 against Sri Lanka and 98 against South Africa were instrumental in England's surprising success. He, like Harmison, simply seems to have exhausted the selectors' patience, which seems a shame given that he was only just beginning to remind everyone of why he had got into the team in the first place.

Ravi Bopara will return. "I'm hoping he will be an integral part of England's future" Miller said, before stating that he felt Bopara had suffered from "a confidence issue which had developed into a technical issue."

One interesting aspect of both squads is the rehabilitation of England's lost generation of cricketers from the winter of 2006-07. Players selected at that time suffered for being caught up in the disastrous end of Duncan Fletcher's regime, and have perhaps been omitted for longer than they would have been otherwise because they were tainted with those failures.

Liam Plunkett's outstanding form over the second half of the county season is rewarded with a Test recall. Plunkett last played for England in the third ODI against West Indies in 2007. This season he has 49 first-class wickets at 24 apiece, as well as 400 runs including three 50s. Saj Mahmood also returns, in the one-day squad, and he has 24 List A wickets at 23 runs each this year.

The selection of Steven Davies as reserve wicketkeeper will infuriate innumerable numbers of county cricket fans, who will advocate one of Chris Read, Geraint Jones or James Foster depending on their allegiances. Clearly though Andy Flower – who knows a thing or two about wicketkeeping – sees something he likes in Davies, given that he was first reserve in the West Indies earlier this year and in the Champions Trophy.

And as for Luke Wright, well, unfortunately for him, and as much as Miller tried to insist otherwise, he's the man burdened with the task of trying to fill Andrew Flintoff's boots, though anyone who thinks the bowling prowess of the two is anything like comparable is fooling themselves. It seems likely he will be a utility reserve player on this tour rather than a member of the starting XI. That leaves three questions to be answered on the ground in South Africa – who is the reserve opening batsman? Who will take the new ball with Jimmy Anderson? And what will England do if the ball doesn't swing?